All language subtitles for Hare.Krishna.The.Mantra.The.Movement.And.The.Swami.Who.Started.It.2017.2017.1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX]

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-I'm Reid Collins.

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna,

Krishna Krishna,
Hare Hare.

A hypnotic, rhythmic chant
of 16 words has replaced LSD

and other drugs for some
in New York's East Village.

On Second Avenue
and First Street is a storefront

in which a Swami
has set up shop.

There,
his American disciples

are learning about
Krishna consciousness.

[atmospheric music playing]

[Thomas Hopkins]
-If someone told you the story,
you wouldn't believe it.

Here he is.

He's 70 years old.

He has no money,
he has no contacts.

He has none of the things
that makes for success.

He's starting an effort,
and it turns into

an international movement.

[atmospheric music playing]

[thunder rumbles]

[atmospheric music playing]

[rock music playing]

[Radhanath Swami]
-Prabhupada came to America

at an extraordinary time.

[Martin Luther King Jr.]
All we say to America

is be true to what
you said on paper.

[rock music playing]

[Devamrita Swami]
-Everyone was questioning.

Everyone was searching
for a better way of life.

[Timothy Leary]
-Turn on, tune in,

and drop out.

[Govinda D]
-Timothy Leary came along
with the drug bandwagon.

But that wasn't good enough.

We wanted an alternate reality
that wasn't drug induced.

[Shyamasundar]
-And suddenly, this new force
from the East was coming in.

People began to look
towards India.

[Abhirama]
-There was a sense in us that
the ancients knew something,

that there was a goodness
inherent in man,

and there was a wisdom.

[Amarendra Das]
-So Prabhupada got here

right at that
historical moment in time.

He walked right into
the middle of it.

[Indian music playing]

[Sally Agarwal]
-He was such a curiosity.

I mean just to look at him
was just an amazement.

Wow.

[Edwin Bryant]
-He was a person that seemed

to be experiencing
a state of happiness

that came from someplace
that they knew nothing about

and never had any access to.

And so they were intrigued.

[Amarendra]
-He says, this movement

is meant to bring about
a revolution

in the life
of a misdirected civilization.

[Schweig]
-Prabhupada brought forward
the great culture

and the great teachings
of those who came before him.

[Indian music playing]

-If I see this person
is a soul,

struggling just like
I'm struggling in my body,

then all of a sudden,
we're family.

And I have a reason to love you.

That's... that's deep.

[Abhirama]
-He challenged the very premise

of our material life.

And for many of us,
that was...

exactly what
we needed to hear.

[gentle music playing]

[horns honking]

[Rukmini Dasi]
-Prabhupada was staying
in an office building,

moving from one office
to another.

[radio announcers]
-Coldest winter in memory.

The states of New York...
Federal disaster areas...

Four to eight
more inches tonight.

-He had no idea
what snow would be like.

He never saw snow.

[Rukmini]
-He was writing so many
letters back to India,

to industrialists,
asking for help or support.

And he didn't receive
one letter of encouragement

or one letter
of offer to help.

[Yogesvara]
-Here he was, 70 years old...

and he's a stranger
in a strange land.

-Ooh, now that's a hamburger.
-That's a Whopper.

-Something to be proud of.
-Hey, you're all right!

-You have to imagine what
it must have been like for him

growing up in the 19th century

in Colonial India.

The image of America was what
was presented in "Life" magazine

of this monstrous
industrialized nation.

Rugged individualism

and, you know,
questioning authority.

To think about bringing

a message of self-control,

of minimizing needs,

of love for Krishna,
love for God,

must have been daunting.

And yet, that's what
he had to do.

Having been requested
by his guru,

"Go to the West and speak

"Krishna's message
in the English language.

Spread this teaching
around the world."

[gentle piano music playing]

[glass breaking]

[Hari Sauri Das]
-He did it two or three times.

The clerk at the shipping
counter, he asked him,

"Well, Swamiji, you keep asking
when the boat's going back,

but you never actually go."

-Traditionally, swamis,
yogis, Zen masters

all moved uptown to the rich,

and were sponsored
and funded by the rich.

And you would find Krishnamurti
living in elegant apartments

on the Upper East Side
with drawing rooms

and French furniture,
and here was Bhaktivedanta

like in the depths of Calcutta,
where the hippies were

and where the acid heads were,
and the freaks

and the amphetamine heads,
and the meth... monsters.

So, it seems like
he was actually bringing

some kind of ray of song
and light to the right place.

The lower depths,
where it was needed.

-Rather than being a hippie,
I was more of a seeker,

a spiritual seeker,
because I didn't have long hair,

and I didn't really identify

with the alternative
and revolutionary movement.

But there was something
inside me

that was searching
for something else.

[Indian music playing]

The way I first met
Prabhupada was

I was on a crosstown bus
in Manhattan, on Grand Street,

and ran into a person that
I knew, and this person

on a scrap piece of paper gave
me an address, and he said,

"This is the address
of an Indian Swami.

"He's lecturing
three times a week,

and I think you
should go there."

[Indian music playing]

When I first met Prabhupada,
I was very impressed

with the fact
that he was elderly,

and that he was very learned
and that he was alone.

And that made me feel like
I really had to help.

[Indian music playing]

[Mukunda]
-I went to the newsstand

that carries
"The Village Voice."

And I saw an advertisement
for 26 Second Avenue.

[Thomas Hopkins]
-It had been a gift shop,
Matchless Gifts.

They were going to take
the sign off of the window,

and he told them, "No, no.
[chuckling]

This is what we have
is matchless gifts."

[Mukunda]
-There was usually
not more than about

seven or eight people there.

And some of them were--
were seekers and hippies,

and others were just coming
to pick up on the vibes,

and it was just kind of
a motley assortment of people.

-I just came in and, uh,
I was tired and they said,

"If you're tired, go to sleep.
Lay down here."

-You mean it's your first day?
-Uh-huh.

[Kirtanananda]
-One thing which
usually happens,

those who come
like this,

they come and they
just never go.

Once you come, you stay.

Because the swami has something
which you are looking for.

[Mukunda]
-We thought that Prabhupada
was a sincere person,

devoid of hypocrisy
which people,

especially young people,
really do not like.

And we didn't see any evidence
of hypocritical teachings

in anything
that Prabhupada taught

or anything that was part
of his persona.

[Hopkins]
-The marvelous thing
about Prabhupada

was that he was so...
no other word but loving.

He accepted them,

he welcomed them
into the temple.

[Yogesvara]
-Plus he could cook
like nobody's business.

You know, the food
was a slam dunk.

[Schweig]
-So not only was it
delicious and healthy,

but it would be
something even sacred.

[Kirtanananda]
-In the Gita,
Krishna has told us

what he wants us to eat,

namely, fresh fruits
and grains.

And so we have
a very delicious meal here.

It's very cheap.
Uh, it goes a long way.

It's quite easy to prepare

and we have a lot of fun.

[Indian music playing]

[Mukunda]
-When the first love feast
occurred in the Bowery,

Prabhupada's demeanor was
as a very affable and happy host

and he seemed to always be
smiling and encouraging people

to take more and more
and more and more.

He was like a friend,

and he was giving a party,
and it was his party,

and he just wanted
everyone to be happy.

[Rukmini]
-Prabhupada's standing in line
for the bathroom

with the young men
and, um, serving them,

and washing the pots,

until someone finally
asked after some time,

"Maybe we could help you?"

[Hopkins]
-He put up with no nonsense,

but he didn't expect them
to be perfect.

He expected them, if they wanted
to stay, to make some effort.

-We're here to learn
and that's what we're doing.

And we also, uh,
we have jobs to perform.

We, uh, recently purchased

a couple
of mimeograph machines,

and that's helping
our printing.

[Yogesvara]
-Prabhupada laid down the law.

If you really want
to progress in spiritual life,

this is the bare minimum.

Live a clean life,

chant every day,
and you'll see the results.

-The first thing
that he did for us

was give us our method
of chanting,

which is so powerful a method
that it will work for anyone.

-If I meditated on the word
"Raymond, Raymond, Raymond,"

that wouldn't be
the same at all.

The word "Krishna" is God.

-You're singing,
you're dancing,

your mind is fully engaged
in thinking about God.

What more can there be?

This is the full aim
of any kind of yoga.

-Anyone who chants
"Hare Krishna."

Ha-Have you got
the whole chant?

-Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna,
Krishna Krishna, Hare, Hare.

Hare Rama, Hare Rama,
Rama, Rama, Hare Hare.

[singing "Hare Krishna"]

-Some of the drug followers,
they are functioning,

functioning high
on a low level.

And we are functioning high,

and we are functioning
low on a high level.

[woman]
-Could you explain that?

-Did you get that?

They're functioning high,
they're, they're,

they're, this feeling,
this is, this...

[Hari Sauri]
-We had no idea about anything.

Looking back at what we were,

and, you know,
the kinds of people

that Prabhupada was trying
to spread this movement through,

and, you know,
we were a sorry bunch.

[bell jingling]

[Radhanath]
-Historically, India is a place
where it was the normal life

for everyone to live
in harmony with God's will.

It was a culture where
the focus of everything

was so much
in devotion to Krishna.

[Yogesvara]
-That spiritual culture
of India acknowledges

that throughout history,
humanity has always needed

spiritual revival
at different moments.

500 years ago, the pioneer
of Krishna devotion,

the great teacher
Shri Chaitanya,

appeared into the troubled world

of 1500s India.

[Gauravani]
-The movement of Shri Chaitanya

was a movement
of sacred sound,

and people would
gather in the street

and they would sing and dance.

[Abhishek Ghosh]
-Caitanya decided to take
his bhakti movement,

his devotional movement
to all the corners of India.

He had inspired thousands,
if not millions of people

to take up the chanting
of the holy names of Krishna.

[Gauravani]
-And people were trying
to understand,

"Well, what is this
revolution for?"

It was for equality of the soul,

to understand that
we are not these bodies.

And that we are all brothers
and sisters, children of God.

Wherever there is life,
there is sacredness.

[Indian music playing]

[man chanting]

[Gauravani]
-Then Prabhupada did something
unusual for America.

He decided it was time to take
the chanting and the music

and the dancing out
onto the streets,

as Chaitanya had done
500 years earlier.

[Indian music playing]

[chanting "Hare Krishna"]

[Indian music playing]

[Thomas Hopkins]
-They had never seen anything
like him before.

He was a phenomena

that they had never,
never encountered.

-He looked like...

the Prime Minister
of the galaxy.

[Sally Agarwal]
-He was sort of
forbidding-looking.

But when he laughed,
he just took in the world.

He was oceanic.

And you just couldn't help
laughing, too.

[chanting and drumming]

[Gauravani]
-He didn't even have
a proper drum or anything.

He would just, you know,
whatever he had,

he'd just bonk on it
just to make a little sound

to keep the rhythm.

But he had the name.

He chanted with so much faith

that it just drew
a universe of people to him.

[Ramesvara]
-At first I heard the cymbals,
the hand cymbals,

and I started to follow
the sound until I found

where they were chanting.

And I was struck with wonder

that this is extraordinary.

This means I don't have to go
to India to get a mantra.

Here are these ecstatic monks

bringing the mantra
to me, for free.

[atmospheric music playing]

[Larry Shin]
-Reciting the names
of Krishna is a tradition

that goes far back
in India as a way,

when recited repetitively
with deep spirituality,

pulls you into the sphere
of Krishna himself.

[Yogesvara]
-He understood what could happen
if the chanting

of Hare Krishna made
its appearance on a world stage.

[Yogesvara]
-It's a cleansing

of the collective
consciousness of society

that can unleash all kinds
of amazing transformations.

[Brahmananda]
-"The New York Times"
took a photograph.

The caption was, "Swami's flock
finds ecstasy in the park."

Prabhupada said,
"'The Times' of New York

"was the most important
newspaper in the world.

This article marked
the beginning of my movement."

[gentle music playing]

[Govinda Dasi]
-He asked me about my life,

and I told him I had
traveled all over Europe.

He looked at me and says,
"Oh? You're so young

and you have traveled so much?"

And I said, "Yes, Swamiji,

but none of it made me happy."

And he burst into
a beautiful smile and said,

"Ah, yes. That is required."

[gentle music playing]

[Yogesvara]
-The thing that's extraordinary
about the '60s is that

there were so many things
being thrown into question.

The world's a desperate place,
we're destroying the planet,

we're destroying one another.

There has to be
some other solution.

[Abhirama]
-As a young man,

Srila Prabhupada's
looking for that.

He was a Gandhian.

[Yogesvara]
-Prabhupada had been attracted
to Gandhi's movement

because it was
a non-violent demonstration,

a protest, against circumstances
that were intolerable.

But something happens when
he meets his spiritual master,

and he's reminded that there's
another kind of revolution

going on that's
much more important,

for a higher purpose,
not a political end

but a spiritual end.

[Indian music playing]

[Yogesvara]
-Everything about
Bhaktisiddhanta

spoke to his spiritual gravitas.

[Ramesvara]
-He comes from a line

of spiritual teachers that
goes back more than 5,000 years.

[Yogesvara]
-Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati's
core message was

you are the soul...

the consciousness

animating the body with life.

And what is the nature
of that life?

It's eternal,
it's fully self-aware...

and joyful, blissful.

[Abhirama]
-This was a very
ambitious thought,

and Prabhupada understood
how ambitious it was.

[atmospheric music playing]

[Yogesvara]
-That's a universal message.

And it's meant to be shared
with the rest of the world.

-What is an epiphany?
What, what happens

that something completely
transforms a life?

[Abhirama]
-Then, there's another,

more urgent request
from his guru,

this time in the form
of a letter.

[Yogesvara]
-The stakes were now raised.

[bomb whistling]

[Hitler shouting in German]

Energies would become even more
focused on making it happen,

one way or another,
as impossible as it was.

[Yogesvara]
-The articles that he wrote
analyzed how human greed

had led to World War II.

How conflict between peoples
and between nations

can be traced back
to spiritual ignorance.

[Rambhoru]
-His children were grown
and in school or married,

and it was time.

[Yogesvara]
-He finally accepted
the sannyas order.

[train horn whistles]

[hooves clopping]

[Yogesvara]
-Going to Vrindavan was a way
of harnessing energies.

He's there contemplating

what's needed to bring Krishna
to the world.

[Rukmini]
-This is very much a part
of the Indian culture.

From ancient times,
at the end of life,

one will focus on the most
important work of life:

realizing who I am

in relationship
with the Divine Person.

[gentle piano music playing]

[Yogesvara]
-It was an intense
period of writing,

and getting those
first three books

of the Srimad-Bhagavatam
published.

He was able to synthesize a vast
library of Sanskrit wisdom texts

down to their essence,
and transpose that

into a language that people
of the 20th and 21st centuries

can understand.

In this one text,

the entire expanse of creation
is described.

-This book has the potential

to lead a revolution
in consciousness,

which he felt
was the need of the hour.

[radio host]
-So we're talking with
Swami A.C. Bhaktivedanta.

-You know
the Hare Krishna chant?

-No, go ahead.

-♪ Hare Krishna ♪

♪ Hare Krishna ♪

♪ Krishna Krishna ♪

♪ Hare Hare ♪

♪ Hare Rama ♪™

♪ Hare Rama ♪

♪ Rama Rama ♪

♪ Hare Hare... ♪

[Brahmananda]
-We were getting
a lot of publicity.

Allen Kallman came and wanted
to make the record.

[chanting]

There was this station,
WBAI, alternative radio,

the top show for interesting
talk and alternative music.

And one night he played
the record, non-stop,

from 10:00 at night
to 6:00 in the morning.

[chanting "Hare Krishna"]

[Yogesvara]
-Part of the radical-ness
of Prabhupada's mission

was really upsetting
the social apple cart

by sending students into
the streets to chant and dance.

That's not considered
normal behavior.

And yet, it's gripping.

You can't remain indifferent.

[chanting continues]

[Gargamuni]
-We used to make these leaflets
called "Stay High Forever."

People really got a kick
out of those.

People would look
at that and say,

"Wow! He is high!

"He's so high, he's trying
to keep himself down

just from the mantra."

-If you can think about
what you might call "chutzpah,"

[chuckling]
this was incredible.

Incorporating
an international society

when you're living
out of a storefront

and you have no resources
whatsoever.

They didn't have any idea
what he was doing,

and he assured them, "Well,
this is what we're gonna be."

[Govinda]
-And he would turn the globe,

and he was studying all
the countries of the world.

And sometimes he would say,

"Brahmananda,
you shall go to Russia.

Gaurasundar,
you go to Japan."

And his plan was to... to send
people all over the world.

But you have to realize,

we only had about 12 teenagers.

[Rukmini]
-So he was looking into
the eyes of each one of us,

saying, "I want each one of you
to open a temple somewhere."

And at that time,
I was so young and so impetuous,

and I was only 16 years old.

And I just said,
"Even the girls?"

Prabhupada looked at me,
and he said,

"There is no difference between
the boys and the girls.

"When you are teaching
Krishna consciousness,

there is no difference."

[Mukunda]
-When I was leaving
for the West coast,

I was walking out the door,
Prabhupada said,

"Just, while you're
on the West coast,

try to start a center."

And somehow, that--
that simple phrase, uh...

rang in my mind
over and over again.

[rock music playing]

[Shyamasundar]
-A car pulled in,
and it was Michael and Jan.

They had just driven out
from New York.

And the reason they came

was to tell us about
this swami they had met.

[Mukunda]
-They thought I was pretty cool
because of the way that I was

after I had met the swami
and I had taken initiation,

so they got enthusiastic
and decided

to help found a temple
in the San Francisco area,

because they were involved
with Ken Kesey

and the movement
that he espoused.

[honky tonk music playing]

[Shyamasundar]
-San Francisco in those days

was the epicenter
of the cultural breakthrough

that we call
the hippie movement now.

And in this small neighborhood,

suddenly there were
over 100,000 young people.

[honky tonk music playing]

[Malati]
-One of the wonderful
aspects of the hippies

was they were searching,
they were seekers.

They actually wanted
something better

than what was being
presented to them.

[rock music playing]

[Shyamasundar]
-The Avalon Ballroom was a--

an old-time dance venue.

And every weekend,

they would hold
rock and roll dances there.

[rock music playing]

[crowd cheering]

[Gurudas]
-The rock dances
were phenomenal.

They were inexpensive,
great performers,

and we all knew each other.

-We had no money
to find a place,

an establishment
for the swami.

If the Grateful Dead
would agree to do

a charity concert with us,

then we could
raise some money.

-We were able to actually get
these great bands together

to donate for free.

[Shyamasundar]
-So we sent tickets

to the swami
to come from New York.

The swami comes down,
Ralph the dog is running around.

Immediately
we see this person.

He is so different
than anybody we've ever seen.

He wasn't an old man to us.

He seemed so fresh
and young and youthful.

[Mukunda]
-It became a very big event.

It was called
the Mantra Rock Dance,

and Timothy Leary came.

[Shyamasundar]
-And with Allen Ginsberg there
to introduce him,

it was the perfect setup.

[Gurudas]
-We were afraid
the Hell's Angels

were gonna trash us,

so we made them
our security.

[Robert Plant's
"Skip's Song" playing]

-♪ Take me far away ♪

♪ My wiles and mind can't beat
a dream of death today ♪

-♪ Crying, "Save me" ♪

-♪ Save me ♪
-♪ Save me... ♪

-The main thing of the evening
was Prabhupada speaking.

And he spoke before this--
this huge gathering.

And even though
it was a Sunday night,

the place was--
was packed with people.

[Shyamasundar]
-And then all the bands
came onstage

and started
a spontaneous kirtan.

It was like electricity
through this hall.

Everyone felt it.

I could see that
he really liked it.

He loved it.

He was into it.

He saw that small speck of
seeking in everyone in that room

and made it very big.

Ahh, my-- my estimation
of the Swami

increased a million-fold.

[chanting "Hare Krishna"]

[Edwin Bryant]
-He embodied spirituality

and his disciples wanted it.

They said,
"We want some of that.

Whatever it is he's having,
we want-- I want that."

So, this is the guru.

[Dayananda]
-So many hippies were really
in love with Prabhupada

and in love with the devotees
and considered the Hare Krishna

to be the hippie religion
at this point.

[reporter]
-If everyone
in the United States

believed in Krishna to the--
and to the extent that you do,

what would happen
to this country?

What would, how would it
be transformed?

[laughter]

-What-- what would you
describe as a hippie?

Someone who smokes...

[laughter]

[Shyamasundar]
-And he sat with us every day,
morning and evening,

telling us about Krishna
and the philosophy.

[atmospheric music playing]

[Govinda]
-We had a wonderful life there.

It was just wonderful.

It couldn't be any better.

It was as good as it could get.

I mean, it was like a family.

[gentle piano music playing]

Then one day,
he was trembling all over.

Swamiji had a heart attack.

He was, from all appearances,
leaving this world.

And so the devotees
were fervently praying,

all night in San Francisco,

all night in New York.

We were praying to Krishna,

"Please, don't take him away."

"He's just come here.
Please, we need more time."

[Mukunda]
-We never had the feeling
that he was ailing and old,

but that he was the leader
of the movement,

and we just--
just depended on him.

We couldn't imagine what life
would be like without him.

[Damodar]
-We were really distraught
because we felt

if he goes to India,
he's going to stay there.

And we didn't know what to do.

[Rukmini]
-So Srila Prabhupada told us,

"Just go on chanting
Hare Krishna.

"We will be
all packed up together.

"You will be chanting here,
and I will be chanting there,

and this vibration will
circulate around the planet."

[Krishna Abhishek]
-And he turns to the picture

of Bhaktisiddhanta and says,

"Here are a bunch of people,
they are not completely trained

"in our theology and practices,

"but they are very sincere
and they are very enthusiastic.

"This is your movement.
They are your people.

Please take care of them."

[atmospheric music playing]

[Abhirama]
-We were lost.

We just couldn't accept the idea
that he might never come back.

[atmospheric music playing]

For five months we grieved.

[haunting vocal music playing]

[Govinda]
-Then we received word
that Prabhupada was better.

[enthusiastic chanting]

We got him back!

Now we had to step it up.

We had to learn
as much from him as we could.

[haunting vocal music playing]

[Yogesvara]
-From the outset,
our intention had been

let's do something
really big for Prabhupada.

And there wasn't much bigger
in 1968 than The Beatles.

-♪ She loves you,
yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ With a love like that,
you know you should be glad ♪

[fans screaming]

♪ With a love like that... ♪

[Shyamasundar]
-We got news that the Beatles

had been in Rishikesh, in India,
studying with a guru there.

And then "Life" magazine
came out with this huge spread.

And their new records came out
with all these songs about

Eastern philosophy
that we had loved so much.

So I came up with this idea.

Go to London and start
a center for Prabhupada

and meet these Beatles.

[rock music playing]

The first thing that we realized
when we got to England is that

in order to stand out,

for people to recognize us
in this huge metropolis,

we're gonna have
to shave our heads.

Up to that time,
the thought of shaving

my curly hair
was atrocious to me.

I didn't want to do it.

Nor did we want to wrap
these bed sheets around us.

Yellow was the color,
our first color.

[chuckling]
We just thought yellow

would really stand out
in London.

[Indian vocal music playing]

We named ourselves
Radha Krishna Temple,

the rock group.

[Indian vocal music playing]

We began getting engagements
at rock concerts.

-♪ Krishna Krishna ♪

♪ Hare Hare...
Hare Rama... ♪

[Shyamasundar]
-We used to, almost daily,

go down to the Apple offices
and give the staff

and everyone there
the food or books.

Unbeknownst to us,
George Harrison had got a hold

of the Swami's record called
"Krishna Consciousness."

And he told me later

that he was listening to it
almost every day.

[George Harrison]
-Through the Beatle experience,

I'd experienced so many things,

and met so many people,
but I realized

that there was nothing actually

that was giving me
a buzz anymore.

I wanted something better.

I remember thinking,
"I'd love to meet somebody

who will really impress me."

[Shyamasundar]
-He had memorized the swami's
introduction to the album.

He knew it word for word.

[Shyamasundar]
-One day I wound up in
the Apple Records' offices,

and George Harrison
was there.

He saw me sitting in a group
of people, in the very back.

He opened the door,
walked through all these people,

and came over to me and said,
"Where have you been?

I've been waiting to meet you."

George came down to see us
where we were living

in our warehouse
in Covent Garden.

-He so much appreciated
the Hare Krishna mantra,

that he immediately said,
"Let's make a 45 record."

-So we all went over
to Abbey Road studios,

made that record,
"Hare Krishna Mantra."

None of us had ever done
anything like this before.

Paul McCartney was there,
and he volunteered to mix it

in the-- from
the control booth,

and George played with us.

He had a little
sit-down harmonium

with psychedelic flowers
all over it.

And then all the Apple staff
who was there

joined in the chorus.

-♪ Hare Krishna ♪

♪ Hare Krishna ♪

♪ Krishna Krishna... ♪

[Shyamasundar]
-It sold 70,000 copies
the first day.

[Yamuna]
-Apple organized tours for us.

We went to Germany and France,

and had television coverage.

-♪ Hare Krishna ♪

♪ Hare Krishna ♪

♪ Krishna Krishna ♪

♪ Hare Hare... ♪

-The "Sunday Times" wanted
to do a feature on us,

and we were able
to send the report

back to Srila Prabhupada
with the headlines,

"Krishna Consciousness
Startles London."

-♪ Hare Rama ♪

♪ Rama Rama, Hare Hare ♪

[bell tolls]

[George Harrison]
-I became quite friendly
at one point

with Swami Bhaktivedanta,
who formed the Krishna Temple.

They'd call me up and say,
"Come to the temple, um,

the Swami's here
and he'd love to see you."

And I'd be like,
going through

some private nightmare
or something.

And I'd think, "How can I go to
the temple when I'm like this?"

But then I'd go, and I'd always
walk out of there thinking,

"Oh, thank you, Lord."

[atmospheric music playing]

[Gurudas]
-And he said to me
at a certain time,

"I want to do songs
for Krishna."

We were back stage in Apple
and he says, "Here's this song."

And he plays "My Sweet Lord."

[playing "My Sweet Lord"]

[crowd cheering]

-Hare Krishna.

[George Harrison]
The music really was the key

that opened the door
into the yoga

and the Vedic scriptures,

which is really
the foundation of everything.

You know, it gave
some sort of...

backbone to my life.

♪ Guru Vishnu ♪

-♪ Hare Krishna ♪

-♪ Gurudeva ♪

-♪ Krishna Krishna... ♪

[George Harrison]
-Krishna said there's no time

when we didn't exist,

and there'll be no time
when we cease to exist.

The only thing
that changes is the body.

♪ Tasmayi Shree ♪

-♪ Hare Rama ♪
-♪ Guruve... ♪

-When George introduced this,
it went worldwide.

[upbeat music playing]

-Life was an adventure.
He'd call me in and say,

"We got invitations
to Paris, Bombay, Sydney,

"and one just arrived
from Nairobi.

Where do you think
we should go?"

By then I knew to say
the wildest place.

"I think we should go
to Nairobi."

"I was thinking
the same thing."

[chuckling]

He always wanted to go where
there was the least development,

where he could
contribute the most.

[upbeat music playing]

[playing harmonium]

[chanting]

[Abhirama]
-The energy that he displayed
was... unimaginable.

I was in my early 20s,

and I could not
keep up with him.

[Amarendra]
-And then around the late '60s

to the early '70s,
ISKCON just exploded.

People were joining
left and right.

[Shyamasundar]
-He managed to manage everything
through his letters.

[Ramesvara]
-Prabhupada would be
receiving mail

from hundreds of students,

and he would personally write
to every one of them.

Prabhupada never got a letter
that he didn't answer.

[Mukunda]
-Receiving letters
from Srila Prabhupada

is what probably kept us going,
and whenever a letter came

from Prabhupada,
it was usually read out loud.

[Shyamasundar]
-And some of those letters

are like two or three
pages long

where he answers every aspect.

He'll say do this,

then you do that,
then you do this,

and by the way,
for Melanie's cough,

you should give her
this kind of syrup,

and you know, every detail.

Many times I would be whispering
to someone in the hallway,

"No, you can't
see him right now."

I would hear,
"Let them come in!"

He would see whoever came.

Prabhupada had time
for everyone.

[birds chirping]

[Ramesvara]
-The only thing is that we
will have to delay the loan

because, for the next
three months,

all our money will be used
to print these 17 books.

As the head
of the American BBT,

Bhaktivedanta Book Trust,
I was the person

that Prabhupada would say,
"Okay, now send money here.

Now send money there."

So I was watching Prabhupada

build this Hare Krishna Movement
through his book sales.

[Shyamasundar]
-He would translate usually
after everyone else was asleep.

Oh, say from 11:00 till
3:00, 4:00 in the morning.

-You can imagine at his age,
translating so many books,

the Gita,
the Srimad Bhagavatam,

which is, like, a huge work,
translating 18,000 verses.

Writing a commentary
for each one of them.

The intensity and the urgency
and the compassion

that comes through
every single line.

His words carry
so much power.

It's a full expression

of his heart
that comes through.

[Shaunaka]
-He really transformed
people's lives

with his very straightforward
translations and commentaries

and purports, very scholarly
presentation, in fact.

And he wanted the intellectual
class of men to,

as, you know, his words,

to examine and explore
these texts.

And he had all kinds of people
examine and explore them.

[Vaisesika]
-Prabhupada advocated

living in harmony with nature

and having
self-sustaining farms,

and to also take advantage
of all of the gifts

that God has given us,

and not try to artificially
change them,

but take them as they come,
as a gift from nature.

[Vaisesika]
-He set up simple living

and high thinking as a standard

and showed that if you simply
had an acre of land

and took care of it nicely,
and you protected the animal,

like the cow especially,

that you could be
self-sustaining

and that everything good
could come from that.

[folk rock guitar]

-♪ From Bombay to Bangalore ♪

♪ All the Hindus
know the score ♪

♪ If you wanna live some more ♪

♪ Hare hare hare... ♪

[Edwin Bryant]
-Hare Krishna
was a dynamic tradition

that just seemed to be
growing so fast.

-The Bhagavad Gita and many
other scriptures were translated

into European languages,

into the languages
of Africa and Asia.

-Everywhere people went,
there were Hare Krishnas.

Comedians would
always tell jokes

about the Hare Krishnas
in the airports.

-Dinner in first class tonight

will be bean sprouts
and broccoli.

-Fine.
-And will that be

chanting or non-chanting?

-Chanting please.

[Graham Schweig]
-Krishna became
a household word

and became part
of the cultural scene.

-You! You with the banjo!

Ah, can you help me?

I have lost
my sense of direction.

-Have you tried Hare Krishna?

-Ha ha. No.

-Let me ask you,
in reincarnation.

does that mean my soul would
pass to another human being,

or would I come back as a moose
or an aardvark or something?

-Take our literature.
-Uh-huh.

-Read it over
and think about it.

-♪ Hare Krishna,
Hare Krishna ♪

♪ Hare Krishna ♪

♪ Krishna Krishna Hare ♪

♪ Hare Ram, Hare Ram ♪

♪ Rama Rama, Hare Hare ♪

♪ Krishna... ♪

-I left the supermarket
in a really bad mood,

and then I met
these very nice people,

the "Hairy Krishnas."

[audience laughing]

They sang me a song,
they gave me some rice,

it was just the little
pickup I needed.

You know, if I hadn't
had to make dinner,

I might've gotten
into their van!

[laughing]

[upbeat news theme]

-I understand, but do you feel
that in the Bible,

the Quran, and so forth,

don't you run
into conflicts at all,

or contradictions in those
particular philosophies?

-When something was incorrect,

if something was misleading
to Prabhupada,

he would boldly
speak out about it.

He was fearless,
and he was bold.

[Shyamasundar]
-For years he kept saying,

"I want to go
to communist countries."

Everyone said,
"No, that's not possible.

You just can't go there."

[ominous music playing]

We had just passed through
the missile crisis in Cuba.

To give a visa to Americans
to travel to Russia in 1971

was just unheard of.

I don't know how it happened.

[chuckling]

As we would pass churches,
he would see that

there were armed guards
in front of the churches.

Nobody was going in and out.

Prabhupada said after that
the ordinary citizens of Russia

are spiritual,

but because
of their leaders,

they have no access
to God anymore.

I went to a bank
to change some money.

Outside the bank,

there were two boys,
and they came up to me.

"Do you have
any Beatles records?"

I said, "Ah, no, but...
The Beatles met my guru,

and he's back
in my hotel room."

"Whoa!"
[chuckling]

And they came back with me
to meet Prabhupada.

But this Russian boy
just drank in

every word that
Prabhupada said, you know?

He asked the most cogent
questions right away.

You know, "Who is God?
What-- Who am I?

What am I here for?
What is real activity?"

And Prabhupada explained
all of that to him

in such concise detail.

He convinced him, completely,
beyond any doubt,

that he should
take on this mission

and take the greatest risk
you can take.

[Niranjana Swami]
-Religious books were
completely forbidden.

And in fact, if anybody
was even caught

producing a religious book...
he could be executed.

-I gave him my Bhagavad Gita,
and from that text,

he was able to copy it,
and translate it,

and spread it
throughout all of Russia

during Communist times.

[Niranjana]
-Some of the books were...

smuggled into the country.

They would make
photocopies of them.

I went to one flat
and saw how the--

all the devotees
were sitting

with photographed copies
of each page,

and they were
stitching the books,

putting them together,
and going out.

[Shyamasundar]
-And from that one little seed,

thousands of Krishna
devotees came up.

[gentle Indian music playing]

We all got a letter
in late September

with a list of 20 names.

"I want these people to come
and join me in India."

I just looked on the list,
my name was on it.

And I was over the moon.
India at last!

[Edwin Bryant]
-And he brought back
Westerners wearing saffron,

shaved heads, sikhas,
sacred clay, and women in saris.

I mean, this was
an incredible sight.

[haunting vocal music playing]

[Shyamasundar]
-Americans, Europeans,
boys and girls.

And it just
took India by storm.

India had ever seen
anything like this,

these sadhus from the West!

-People would come up and they'd
go like this to our skin

and look at it like
maybe it was gonna...

this whiteness was going
to come off, you know?

[Surat]
-The whole town
was just suffused

with Krishna consciousness.

The entire town
was on fire with devotion.

[Radhanath Swami]
-Prabhupada brought
his followers back to India

because he wanted
to revive

and tell the people of India
that the greatest treasure

is the heritage
of your own country.

But you've forgotten it,
you've neglected it.

"I've brought these people back

to remind you
of what you have forgotten."

[Shyamasundar]
-And then we started
putting on major festivals.

We got the grounds
in the heart of Bombay

and built a huge,
elaborate tent.

Several million people,
over that ten days,

got to sit and listen
to Swamiji speak.

[atmospheric music playing]

[chanting]

[TV announcer]
-It's the Ratha Yatra festival
coming to the heart of London

from Jagannatha Puri, India.

There, it's
a 2,000-year-old festival

attended annually
by over a million people.

Here at Marble Arch,

the number of worshipers
may be less,

but they are no less devoted

to finding
their eternal happiness

in Krishna consciousness.

[gentle piano music playing]

[Mahatma]
-The Ratha Yatra festival

is an ancient Indian tradition

that Prabhupada
introduced to the West.

The deities spend
the whole year in the temple,

and this is the day that
they come out of the temple,

so everybody can see them.

[gentle piano music playing]

People seemed to really
respond to that idea.

[gentle piano music playing]

[Sruti Kirti]
-It was a victory
for Prabhupada,

this Ratha Yatra going
right down, like,

the main byways there in London
to Trafalgar Square.

And he just danced
and walked the entire way.

This was conquering London...
he conquered the British.

When he was young, when he first
met his spiritual master,

he was into
the Gandhi movement.

He wasn't into British rule.

So now he came
and took over Britain.

[gentle piano music playing]

[Shyamasundar]
-We were all so young

and unskilled
in managing big things.

They were going on real fast.

He started with two temples.

By the time
he came to India,

there were nearly
50 centers worldwide.

That means dedicated centers
where devotees lived

and preached
Krishna consciousness.

[Mahatma]
-And it was an amazing time.

We were excited,

and we were getting
revolutionaries,

people who wanted
to change the world.

[Yogesvara]
-His students
were not all hippies.

There were a lot of people
of substance and accomplishment,

but spiritually,
we were all children.

And he knew that.

He also knew that...
this was an emergency.

However much time he had left,
he had to establish

the foundation
of an international society.

[Mahatma]
-And he was very confident that,
if we follow our principles

and we maintain our purity,
we will be successful.

[Larry Shin]
-A guru inspires, teaches,

tries to set in
a positive direction.

But ultimately,
every one of us

live out our own religious life.

-Mistakes can be
our best...

way of learning anything.

And Prabhupada knew that there
were going to be mistakes.

-And gradually,
as we learned how to distribute

Prabhupada's books,
money came in.

And some people
who were salesmen decided,

as salesmen sometimes do,
stretch the truth a little bit.

And people would
tell Prabhupada,

"You know, Prabhupada,
they're saying

"when they distribute a book,

that the money
is going to Bangladesh."

And Prabhupada said,
"If that's what you're saying,

that's where it has to go."

And he said, "You need to learn
how to get people motivated

"to buy the book
by convincing them

"how this book will help them.

That's the purity
of a spiritual salesman."

So we were genuinely motivated,
but we were a little aggressive.

[chanting "Hare Krishna"]

[TV reporter]
-Many would consider members
of the Hare Krishna sect

to be little more
than a noisy nuisance.

They've been labeled
dangerous religious fanatics

and lumped together with cults,

but the Krishnas say
they're simply misunderstood.

-They are the mafia
of the religious world.

As a matter of fact,
they have ties

to the organized crime families
of the United States.

-Now, that's a serious charge.
-It sure is.

-Are you saying that crime
is an organized planned program

of the Hare Krishna?

[man]
-Yes.

-The scholars called it
the NRMs,

the New Religious Movements.

-The story you are about to see
is a parent's nightmare:

the story of a family
whose daughter disappeared.

When they finally found her,
they had to fight

just to get to talk with her
because she had joined a cult.

[Amarendra]
-Thousands and thousands
of young people

leaving their former religions
and joining the NRMs.

The parents
and the religious leaders,

there was a tremendous backlash.

[TV announcer]
-Cheryl Zimmera is 18.

She tried university
and a job in treasury

before leaving both to join
the sect a few months ago.

Today, after her initiation
by the spiritual master,

she says she's found
true happiness.

But her mother and her aunt
are not so sure.

-She's given up university
to do this.

Given up everything,
she's not working.

And I can't see
any future in it at all.

What's going to happen
in ten years' time?

-Your mother is--
is worried that, in fact,

all the things
you are saying, uh,

are largely due
to brainwashing.

Are you worried
that she's worried?

-Oh, yes, I'm worried
that she's worried,

but I don't think
she should be.

-These parents became alarmed.

-'Cause they were actually
kidnapping people.

You'd be walking
down the street,

and they would just
throw you in a car.

[tires screeching]

And they'd say, "Your parents
are in the car behind us.

We need to talk to you."

And they'd put you
in a hotel.

Parents were hiring people
who would kidnap us

and try to deprogram us.

So there was a whole business
started of deprogramming.

-You think that these groups
have techniques of mind control

that you feel are dangerous?

-Yes. Hare Krishna is one
of the, the main one.

Uh, and, uh, they use
the same technique--

It's no different from Guyana,
uh, Jim Jones.

It's no different from Hitler.

-The anti-cult movement
developed this theory

that anybody that would join
one of these movements

could not possibly
have done so voluntarily.

It had to be the victim
of mind control,

that they were brainwashed.

Of course, Prabhupada
had admitted many times,

"Yes, we are brainwashing.

The brain is very dirty,
and we are cleaning it!"

This was a case,
"People vs. Murphy."

Criminal charges brought
against two devotees

in the Supreme Court
of New York City.

This was an attack on
everything that we stand for.

On the fundamental principles
of the Bhagavad Gita,

that the Bhagavad Gita
is a tool of mind control.

[Hari Sauri]
-Prabhupada said
our defense statement

is the whole Srimad Bhagavatam,
the Bhagavad Gita,

the Nectar of Devotion,
the Nectar of Instruction.

He said, "You present
all of our books."

He said, "Let the case
go on for years."

The more he got attacked,
the more energized he became.

He was a fighter.

Prabhupada loved a good fight.

[Mahatma]
-In the end, Justice Leahy

of the New York Supreme Court
said, quote,

"They were reaping the benefits
of a bona fide religion

with roots in India that
go back thousands of years."

-We have a right, an absolute
right in this country,

to believe in anything
that we want.

[gentle music playing]

This is always considered
to be a watershed event.

It's mentioned in
all the law review articles,

it's mentioned
in all the articles

on the history
of the anti-cult movement.

It's had an impact
all over the country.

[gentle music playing]

You know, that was a big victory
for Prabhupada.

[sweeping orchestral music
playing]

[Gauravani]
-Prabhupada believed
that Krishna's love

would supersede
any obstacle.

The idea that God's love is
more powerful than anything else

and that it will come like
a tsunami down the street.

-♪ Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna,
Krishna Krishna ♪

♪ Hare Hare ♪

♪ Hare Rama,
Hare Rama ♪

♪ Hare Rama, Hare Hare ♪

♪ Hare Krishna,
Hare Krishna ♪

♪ Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare ♪

♪ Hare Rama, Hare Rama ♪

♪ Hare Rama,
Hare Hare ♪

♪ Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna ♪

♪ Krishna Krishna,
Hare Hare ♪

♪ Hare Rama... ♪

-There was never a day
that just didn't astonish me.

There was never a moment when
I would walk up to his door

to go in when I wouldn't
just be totally...

ahh... full of excitement.

That I never knew
what was going to happen

the moment I opened that door.

[Rukmini]
-Prabhupada was quite unlike

any teacher we'd ever known.

There was no gap between what
he spoke and what he lived.

[Ghosh]
-He shared his particular love
for his followers,

and they shared love
with each other.

That is the heart of what
holds his movement together.

And that was his last request:

"If you love me,
please work with each other,

despite differences."

[Hari Sauri]
-He was not at all disturbed
in his consciousness

by the breakdown of his body.

You could see, here's a person
that really understands

he's not this body.

I was there when he was still
translating the Bhagavatam

two weeks before
he left the planet.

[atmospheric music playing]

[bells jingling]

[Indian music playing]

-♪ Hare Krishna ♪

♪ Hare Krishna ♪

♪ Krishna Krishna ♪

♪ Hare Hare ♪

♪ Hare Rama Hare ♪

♪ Rama Rama Ram Rama ♪

♪ Hare Hare ♪

[man with crowd]
-♪ Hare Krishna ♪

♪ Hare Krishna ♪

♪ Krishna Krishna ♪

♪ Hare Hare ♪

♪ Hare Rama ♪

♪ Hare Rama ♪

♪ Rama Rama ♪

[crowd]
-♪ Hare Hare ♪

[man]
-One more time, real loud.

[all]
-♪ Hare Krishna ♪

♪ Hare Krishna ♪

[crowd]
-♪ Krishna Krishna ♪

♪ Hare Hare ♪

♪ Hare Rama ♪

♪ Hare Rama ♪

♪ Rama Rama ♪

♪ Hare Hare ♪

[man]
-♪ Hare Krishna ♪

[crowd cheering]

♪ Hare Krishna ♪

♪ Krishna Krishna ♪

♪ Hare Hare ♪

♪ Hare Rama ♪

♪ Hare Rama ♪

♪ Rama Rama ♪

♪ Hare Hare ♪

[crowd]
-♪ Hare Krishna ♪

[man]
-Whoa!

[crowd]
-♪ Hare Krishna ♪

♪ Krishna Krishna ♪

♪ Hare Hare ♪

♪ Hare Rama ♪

♪ Hare Rama ♪

♪ Rama Rama ♪

♪ Hare Hare ♪

[man]
-♪ Hare Krishna ♪

♪ Hare Krishna ♪

♪ Krishna Krishna ♪

♪ Hare Hare ♪

♪ Hare Rama ♪

♪ Hare Rama ♪

♪ Rama Rama... ♪

[atmospheric music playing]